Bro, we shouldn’t wear the “china bad” goggles and have a pessimistic view on things, but we shouldn’t be immensely naive either. Weibo in general is a shit gauge for public sentiment. The government will heavily censor stuff, PR companies will pay to censor some things and promote others (to promote or demote certain celebrities and consumer choices), and then there are the hordes of under educated and radical feminists, nationalists, racists, etc.

I feel that the r/sino subreddit and the old genzedong subreddit and this lemmygrad are actually a lot better to gauge sentiment. Most people here don’t have china bad prejudice, and are educated, and have seen the world (either lives abroad or has vpn, has okay english ability so can consume foreign content). Opinions and viewpoints formed by people like this actually makes sense and is logical. Most of the opinions, if allowed, on Weibo (also Douyin), are conceived “just because”, and they can’t really find any solid arguments as to why.

I’ve had my fair share of discussions with people on Weibo and Douyin (mostly non-political, as political stuff is discouraged), and I give an argument and they reply with slogans or arguments filled with fallacies, and do not rebuttal any of my points.

Unfortunately intellect is a scarcity anywhere, China included. If I get the chance I definitely want to revamp the education system in China. Make high school mandatory and free. Provide free lunches and uniforms so school isn’t cost prohibitive. Give non-Beijing|Shanghai|Guangzhou|Shenzhen schools the same great teachers, buildings, equipment. Okay I stray far. Main idea: analyzing weibo sentiment is great for appeasing certain groups of people, but horrible if you want to make the right decision.